Honda’s 2017 Civic Hatch Caught Undercover; Could Be The Si Or Type S

After the first photos of Honda’s Geneva Motor Show Civic Hatch Concept, we bring you scoops of the actual production car, which looks surprisingly similar, right up to the central-mounted dual exhaust tips.

Even the wheels and the body-kit that includes front and rear aprons, plus side skirts and a roof spoiler are identical, though, we can’t say for sure if this prototype maintains the concept’s sizeable front and rear bumper air vents behind the camouflage.

Put one and one together, and you’ll probably arrive to the same conclusion as we did, which is that what we’re seeing here is a performance model, possibly the Si or Type-S, that will be positioned right under the next range-topping Type-R hatch, that we spied late last year with an ever more aggressive wide-body kit and triple exhausts.

This performance variant of the new Civic hatch that targets the VW Golf GTI and Ford Focus ST is believed to sport a milder version of the Type-R’s sizzling 2.0-liter turbocharged VTEC four-cylinder unit, making somewhere in the neighborhood of 230 horses, connected to a six-speed manual transmission, though an automatic may also be on offer.

We should learn more about the production car in a few days’ time when Honda presents the Civic Hatch Concept in Geneva.